Of Dinosaurs and Love Confessions
by Vanessa S. Quest
Summary: For IceZiggee, Jack tells Spencer that he's weird and crazy, but that doesn't mean that's a bad thing...


There was tension in the air that Aaron hadn't expected upon leaving the shower, Spencer was sitting in the corner, body language screaming of hurt and anguish, and his six year old son Jack sitting obliviously to it- almost cold indifference, by the TV- three feet from it to watch a favorite animated movie.

Aaron knew from the dragon showing on the screen just how far Jack had gotten into the DVD as he approached them both quietly.

"Jack, sit on the couch, that's too close to the TV buddy."

"But I don't wanna sit near Spencer!" Jack said succinctly. Aaron did a double-take, just this morning the boy was in awe of his magic tricks and facts about dinosaurs, but all of a sudden- and Aaron knew that 'all of a sudden' and 'six years old' were a common and temporary thing, Jack was pushing Spencer away with full force.

"Jack! That wasn't a very nice thing to say."

"But it's true. I don't wanna be near him. I don't like Spencer!"

Aaron did a double-take as his lover picked up his satchel and left the room, "Reid, just wait a-" The front door made a crisp closing sound that if amplified in volume could have been considered a slam. "Now Jack, you just hurt Spencer's feelings, why don't you like Spencer anymore?"

"Because he's weird!" it took Aaron a moment to register his son's direct answer. He gave Jack a look that clearly indicated the boy needed to explain things more clearly. "Well he is! Bobby was telling me about weird people and how they're crazy and I don't wanna be around crazy people!"

Aaron touched his eyebrow, the same cue he usually uses with Reid in the field to 'wrap up' a long winded story or statistic usually related back to Jack with the exact same meaning, oddly. "And you said so, in so many words?"

Jack nodded.

"So you told Spencer you think he's weird and he's crazy and you don't like him…?" Inwardly Aaron groaned about just the sheer amount of damage control he'd be working on for the course of the next few weeks thanks to his six year old's friend who is apparently a complete jerk, if it's fair to call another six year old that.

The boy nodded again.

"Jack, do you understand that when you say you don't like a person it means you don't want to be around them when they tell you cool things about dinosaurs, or show you magic tricks, or help you learn words to read, or draw pictures or when it's bedtime and you want to hear a story...?"

Jack appears horror-stricken.

"Son, what does crazy mean?" Aaron added.

"Well crazy is like bad, like the bad men daddy puts away!"

Aaron crossed his arms and squatted to Jack's eye-level. "Buddy, I won't say that some of the people I catch aren't crazy, because some are, but the bad guys I catch hurt people. Has Spencer ever hurt you?"

"No…"

"And, you know that daddy and Spencer work together right?"

"Yeah."

"So do you think daddy works with the bad guys?" His tone is rhetorical, but it doesn't stop Jack from giving a shot down reply.

"No." He pouts, "Am I gonna have to say sorry?"

"Big time. But we're not through, Jack. Crazy doesn't mean bad. Crazy isn't good or bad, it's when a person can't think in the same ways other people think or feel in the same ways other people feel. They can be sad when they should feel happy, or they can see people when no one's there, or they can be happy when other people would be angry. Spencer hasn't been like that now has he?"

Jack shook his head. "No…"

"But Spencer gets sad when it's normal to be sad, hasn't he?"

Jack nods again.

"So what's so weird about that?"

"But that's not what makes him weird!"

"Then he can't possibly be crazy, now can he be?" Aaron smiled as Jack caught on.

"No, he's not. But he's still weird!"

"Now Jack, what does weird mean?"

"It means you don't act like other people do!"

"Well then, I'm weird too. Most people don't go after bad guys, they try to keep away from them. Do you not want to be my buddy anymore either?"

The little boy's eyes watered. "NO! That's not what I mean! Daddy isn't weird! Daddy's daddy! You're not weird you're_ brave_!"

"But Spencer goes after bad guys too, doesn't that make him brave too?"

"He is, I guess… but, but still!"

"Why do you think Spencer's weird, Jack?"

"Because he knows so much stuff, he dresses funny, and, and, well he talks about strange stuff!"

"But you like the things he talks about…"

"So! It's still weird!"

"Jack, Spencer knows so much stuff because he's really, really smart. You know how when you read a story you know what happens in it when the other kids don't? It's the same thing, except Spencer's read lots and lots of things before… and while I'll give you he dresses differently, so does Garcia, and you like Garcia don't you?"

"Uh-huh…"

"So what's the problem?"

"I don't want a bad guy here." Jack finally confesses, dropping his chin to his chest to pout.

Aaron ruffles his son's hair and pulls him into a hug. "Jack, we've talked about this. I'm not going to let anyone bad near you ever again, but Spencer helps me with that. And Spencer would do anything to protect you. Right now, do you know what he's doing?"

"Crying cuz he's sad?"

"Maybe, but he's probably doing what he thinks will protect you too. Jack, it's very important you don't call people crazy without a good reason for it. It's mean, and if it's not true it can hurt a person's feelings very badly. Did you want to hurt Spencer's feelings?"

Jack cocks his lips to the side of his face, and Aaron's sure that's as much of an answer as his son would give him.

"Spencer's mommy is what some people would call crazy. Now, it's important we don't tell Spencer that his mom's crazy, because it's a mean thing to say, she's sick, and the kind that won't ever feel better. She wouldn't hurt anyone on purpose, so she's not a bad guy, she just can't help from seeing and hearing things that aren't necessarily there. Now Jack, I know sometimes you get scared of things, like bad guys coming here, but Spencer? Spencer's afraid of being crazy. It scares him so much that he's always looking for signs, because if he thinks he is, he'd leave, and he'd leave to protect you. Do you understand?"

Aaron can tell he doesn't fully get it, but he sees enough of the outline to move forward. "Do you never want to see Spencer again?"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Good, because I like Spencer a lot too. Do you remember how I said Spencer's going to try to protect you?" The tell-tale nod is all Aaron needs before he continues, "That's because he loves you. Just like daddy loves you. Now is there anything crazy about trying to protect the people you love most in the world?"

"No!" Jack says, proudly.

"Exactly. Now Jack, we have to go find Spencer and apologize, you'll have to take back the mean things you said and explain how you really feel about Spencer so he won't have hurt feelings, okay?"

"Uh-huh."

"Good, go get your shoes."

Aaron quickly glanced to the time, twelve minutes. He quickly threw on a pair of shoes and took up his keys and cellphone, he spotted Spencer's keys lying on the ground and saw that as a very good sign. They probably fell out of Reid's satchel when he had laid it down on the table and he hadn't noticed. That would mean Reid didn't drive home or god-knows-where-to, so he was on foot.

While normally, Hotch would leave Reid to the geographic profiles, he knew Reid would go somewhere quiet to think or somewhere with caffeine, and with his favorite coffee shop being in the middle of renovations, it wouldn't be there. Aaron took Spencer's keys from the floor and slipped them into his pocket. He'd probably wind up at the library, it would be open until 10 PM, well past Jack's bedtime and then Spencer would attempt to come back to collect his keys, maybe talk but probably not, and leave. It wouldn't be the 'see you tomorrow' kind either. Reid had a flair for the melodramatic when sanity came into question, he'd have broken up with Aaron and maybe even leave the team over a stupid six year old brat telling his son words Aaron had spent the past 6 years trying to avoid teaching his kid.

So help him, if he could, he would home-school Jack to protect him from that shit, but it wasn't a possibility and Aaron knew it. He seriously debated the merits of a private school but knew realistically that kids exchanged just as many ideas and words as teachers did and there was no turning that off.

Jack appeared at the foot of the steps after another two minutes ready to go. The pair locked up the house and loaded into the car before heading to the library Aaron suspected Spencer would've hiked to. He was happy to prove his ability to form a profile was still fully intact. He found Spencer sitting in the back of one of the lesser used reference rooms before walking Jack to the children's room.

"Buddy, wait here for a few minutes and don't leave. I'll be back in five minutes."

Jack nodded and set off to look at the books and toys within the room to busy himself. Aaron gave an appreciative look to the librarian sitting behind the desk with a sleepy look to her eyes.

Aaron made a brisk walk to the table Spencer was sitting at. Spencer was slumped forward, resting his head on his arms and completely ignoring the onlookers around him as he silently lamented. Pulling out the chair next to him and sitting down, Aaron waited for Spencer to make any eye-contact. He could swear he heard Spencer mutter something about a room full of seats and some asshole HAD to just HAD to sit next to him.

Aaron smiled gently, "But I'm a really _sorry_ asshole."

Spencer's head lifted up at that and looked at his lover a bit jilted. "I am not getting dumped in a library. You will not ruin the sanctity of this place for me."

"That is correct." Aaron said, waiting for it to register with Spencer before continuing, "Jack's here too. He wants to apologize. He didn't really understand the words he was using, and I apologize on his behalf too."

Spencer shook his head, "I just didn't ever expect him to say it, you know? But what if he's right? What if I am going crazy?"

"Then we'll fight it tooth and nail as long as we can and we'll get through it. But you're not."

"You don't know that!" Spencer scowled. "I don't even know if it's…"

"Spence, we can continue about this later, back at home preferably, but first, Jack has something he has to say."

Spencer hung his shoulders in defeat, working around the accursed 8:30PM bedtime was anything but easy on the man. Aaron slipped his hand over Spencer's before giving a gentle squeeze and leading him back toward the children's section. Jack, upon spotting his father and Spencer, stopped moving the dinosaur he was playing with and stood. He looked at the item in his hands before walking up to the pair still holding it.

"Did you know a deinonychus could bite as hard as an alligator the same size?" Jack held up the said dinosaur, apparently a Deinonychus antirrhopus. Reid smiled awkwardly, looking at the little boy and trying to figure out his place in the picturesque puzzle of the Hotchner Family. "Because, I know that because I read a really cool book you gave me… an' and Daddy told me that you're not weird because you know stuff like that, you're smart. And being smart's good… besides, it's be boring if you didn't know all that cool stuff. I like you how you are. I'm sorry I said mean stuff to you. Bobby doesn't know what he's talking about, because if you're weird, that's fine, because… well, you're still you!"

Jack smiled, beaming at the revelation and Spencer coincidentally. Spencer quickly brought his hand to under his eyes and rubbed away anything even remotely teary. Jack really was just like his dad in all the right ways. He had single-handedly deflected half of Spencer's own self-confidence issues so easily. No six year old should be that smooth. He gave Aaron a tired but appreciative look, Aaron put his hand on Jack's shoulder and arm across Spencer's.

"Well if that's settled we should head back home. It's getting late."

Upon driving back, Spencer was the first to spot Jack asleep in the back seat.

"Aaron, he's out."

"Let's take a couple of laps to make sure he stays asleep." Aaron drew out the drive in companionable silence as he wondered just how to talk to Spencer on the subject on the man's mind.

Ten minutes later they pull into the driveway and Aaron situates Jack in his arms as Spencer opens the front door and Jack's door for him. Aaron takes Jack straight in and Spencer doubles back to shut the doors. He briefly looks for his keys that he knew had to have fallen out of his bag.

"Looking for these?" Aaron asked, fishing the keys from his pocket and hanging them in the air.

"Yeah, so they did fall out of my bag…" Spencer mutters in slight annoyance. He holds up his hand half-expecting the ring to hit the wall instead of his hand but the keys go securely back into Aaron's pocket.

"Well, now that you know I have them you can stop looking for them, I'll put the pot on."

Spencer slipped into the kitchen, sitting at the table as Aaron worked to fix up some coffee. Aaron peered over his shoulder to spot Spencer and read his dejected body language.

"Spencer," He took a moment to find the best way to say what he wanted- no, needed to say and opted for the more direct route. "I love you too much to not make this work between us. If it ever comes to a point where you do show signs, we'll work through it, just like if I ever get sick. There's no guarantees in life, but you already know that." He set the cup of coffee on the table.

"Aaron, I don't have a memory of my mom without schizophrenia. I just …I can't do that to a child. If it comes to that, god… Aaron I love you but if it comes to that I'm walking away."

Aaron puts a finger to Spencer's lips. "Spencer, for once let's not talk about the hypotheticals. Right now, I love you, you love me, and Jack loves us both. Let's just take that as the win and call it a night."

In that span of seconds there is a wordless conversation about the Reid effect, about how indignant a six year old might get, and how fickle in general children are, but they stick in the backs of their throats. When Spencer opens his mouth his feet are moving of their own accord.

"Oh really, a night?" He turns his head slightly and puts down the coffee, wrapping his arms around Aaron's shoulders he pulls him into a kiss before resting nose-to-nose with his lover, brows touching. "I can think of a few more productive things we could do besides sleep."

Aaron let out a small laugh, "Let me get some coffee and I'll meet you there." There is a playful slap to Spencer's ass and a pinch, it makes him straighten his back a little for a moment before making a move for the steps. Both men know that desire does a great deal of good to chase out and exorcise their own demons, and sometimes that's more than what words could do. Besides that, what more did they need to say? They both love each other, they both have each other… these could easily be proven in touches instead, and really to be alive is to collect experiences and if they really do plan to live in the moment words merely substitute actions.

Fin.


End file.
